ALBANY, NEW YORK – Austin Suarez, age 26, of Hudson, New York, was sentenced today to 100 months in prison for aiding and abetting the theft of firearms from Zero Tolerance Manufacturing, a federally licensed firearms dealer in Ghent, New York.
The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon and John B. DeVito, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy also sentenced Suarez to a 3-year term of supervised release and ordered that he pay restitution of $624.
Suarez pled guilty on January 11, 2021. As part of his plea, Suarez admitted that on February 18, 2020, he and co-conspirator Duane Thompson agreed that Thompson would break into and steal firearms from Zero Tolerance Manufacturing. Suarez aided Thompson in obtaining a pry bar and two-way radios to use during the burglary. That evening, Suarez drove and dropped off Thompson outside the store, knowing that Thompson would break into the store, steal firearms, and return to Suarez’s car with the stolen firearms. Thompson did in fact break into the store and stole five (5) AR-style rifles from within the store, and returned to Suarez’s vehicle, at which point they left the area with the stolen firearms.
Thompson, age 26, pled guilty in October 2020 to stealing the firearms from the gun store. He was sentenced in March to 24 months in prison.
The stolen rifles were recovered in the course of the investigation.
This case was investigated by ATF, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance provided by the U.S. Marshals Service and New York State Police, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emmet O’Hanlon.